Madurai: Sugarcane supply key to Alanganallur sugar mills’ future, says Agriculture minister

MADURAI: Agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister M R K Panneerselvam said the government would put all its might to restart National Cooperative Sugar Mills at Alanganallur that stopped production in 2019. He said farmers should ensure enough sugarcane to feed the mill once operations commence. It would take eight months to one year to restart the plant, he said.
A team of special officers was formed to inspect the feasibility and prepare an estimate to restart the unit.It will submit a detailed report to the state government, which in turn will restart sugar production at the mill, which began operations during the rule of K Kamaraj in 1962. Addressing the farmers, mill workers and officials, Panneerselvam said the sugarmill went defunct because of the non-availability of sugarcane. Farmers supplied sugarcane to private mills and crippled Alanganallur sugar mills.
He said minister P Moorthy was pushing his department to restart the mill. Protest unto death was also organised to restart the mill. Chief minister M K Stalin was willing to oblige, but needs time to execute the projects and schemes promised by the government, he said.
Panneerselvam said that wrong policies of the central government in sugar procurement are causing a huge burden to the state government. It costs Rs 45 to 50 to produce a kilogram of sugar but it has to be sold at Rs 36 because of the central government policy. The loss keeps accumulating every year an the sugar produced in Alanganallur can’t be sold in Tamil Nadu. Sugar from North India is supplied to PDS shops in the state. Sugar worth more than Rs 1,000 crore is stocked in the state. If the state government can sell the sugar produced in the state, the problem could be solved, he said.